


As the Sun Rises (Directors Cut)

by ThisIsTheDungeonThatNeverEnds



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 09:00:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15336411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisIsTheDungeonThatNeverEnds/pseuds/ThisIsTheDungeonThatNeverEnds
Summary: As the sun rises, so must it also set.There are two sides to every story. Sometimes when you hear both sides, your point of view, along with your idea of who the villain is, changes. Filled with hatred for the gods, resentment for the Luicis Caelum bloodline, and love for his Accursed King, Prompto stands beside Ardyn and stares down at the three men who a decade ago were his brothers.Behold, the revamped version of the Promdyn AU back from Hiatus after a year.





	1. Prologue

Noctis could not help but stare out the window of the beaten old truck Talcott had picked him up in. To look at the world around him, how the landscape had been changed and torn, he could believe he had been gone for a decade.

“The guys must be pinching themselves right now,” Talcott said.

“Where are they, anyway?” Noctis asked. He hoped Ignis and Gladio were still alright, all things considered at least.

“Letallum more often than not. But they take a lot of trips to Hammerhead for miss Cindy. When she needs a little extra muscle out on the road, she gives them a call. Speaking of which, they said they’re near Hammerhead now, so we’ll be meeting them there.”

They drove in silence for several minutes, Talcott keeping a watchful eye on the road and Noctis absentmindedly stroking Umbra’s fur. So Ignis and Gladio were alright after all, then. Cindy too. That just left Prompto…

_Prompto._

A rush of guilt hit Noctis like a tidal waive when he remembered the last time he saw his best friend. Atop the train en rout to Tenebrae; he pushed him off, yelling at him, blaming him for everything, never knowing it was him until it was too late. They had hoped to find him in Gralea, but their desperate search had come up short and he’d had no choice but to go to the crystal without ever having located Prompto. Noctis could do nothing but desperately pray that whatever had become of him, Prompto knew that Noctis hadn’t meant the horrible things he’s said back then.

“You know,” Talcott said, “Ever sense you disappeared Your Majesty, it’s been nothing but nighttime non-stop. Lestallum still has light thanks to the power plant, so just about everyone’s taken refuge there.”

Noctis gasped when he imagined the whole of Lucis crammed into one city. “Only there?”

“Everywhere else has been abandoned. The daemons moved in forcing the people to move out.”

Noctis nodded slowly trying to wrap his head around the things Talcott was describing.

Everything was different now; everything was a wreck.

But at least his friends were making the best of things. Iris and Cor daemon hunting together, Ignis learning how to cook again and still fighting despite never having regained his sight, Gladio ever the vigilant soldier. So of course that only left one…

“So...” Noctis asked slowly, “Did any one ever find out what happened to...to Prompto?”

Umbra wined and Talcott shook his head. “No one’s found out anything about Prompto sense you lost him on the way to Tenebrae. Arenea Highwind took out search parties all day every day for weeks on end. But it got too dangerous to continue searching, what with the area crawling with daemons and stray MTs and all. He’s been...” Talcott paused, “He’s pretty much been pronounced dead. The guys held a little memorial service in Hammerhead and Cor made sure he got proper Crownsguard honors. Dave gave him a hunter’s sendoff in Meldacio too. Ignis and Gladio kept it together the best they could but we all know they cried their hearts out behind closed doors.”

Noctis closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, willing himself not to cry.

He’d killed him. He’d murdered his best friend. It was all his fault that…

No.

It wasn’t his fault at all, and it damn sure wasn’t Prompto’s fault.

It was all  _Ardyn’s_  fault. Ardyn attacked Insomnia. Ardyn killed Luna. Ardyn plunged the world into darkness. Ardyn tricked him into killing Prompto.

He would make that bastard suffer.

* * *

 

The Kings chambers in the Citadel were lit with dozens of candles, casting a romantic yet somber glow over the couple tangled together in the black silken sheets on the bed.

Ardyn gently laced his fingers through to soft golden hair of his lover who lay with his head on his bare chest. “I can feel it now,” he barely whispered. “He’s on his way here, Glaive and all.”

Prompto raised his head. “Noctis?”

Ardyn smiled softly in a way that, ten years ago, he hadn’t known he was still capable of. “Who else, Love?”

Prompto propped himself op on one arm and cupped his husband’s face with the hand that bore the codeprint that he no longer had to hide; Ardyn loved every part of him. “I still say we should keep looking for another way.”

Ardyn kissed the top of Prompto’s head, his smile turning sad. “I tire of this conversation, Prompto. The only way to end the scourge is to end my life and that of Noctis as well. Besides, two thousand years is quite long enough for any man, and I was blessed to spend the last decade of it with someone who reminded me of who I was; who made me whole again.” He took Prompto’s chin and tilted his head up. “My Redeemer Prince.”

Prompto moved to kiss him, but Ardyn tossed the covers aside and stood.

“Don your battle gear, Love. The time has come.”


	2. Chapter 1: Reunion of Friends

Followed closely by Ignis and Gladio, Noctis made his way down the corridors of the citadel. The lights were on; Ardyn was waiting.

“Looks like he was expecting company,” Gladio mused.

Noctis nodded his agreement. “He wants this as bad as we do.” He lead his companions into the elevator and let it carry them up the floor where the throne room, and Ardyn, awaited them.

Yes, Noctis knew Ardyn craved death. Redemption, he’d called it back in Gralea. Could there be redemption for a man like Ardyn who had inflicted so much suffering on so many people? He’d been the hero of his time, a healer, a defender. But he’d been punished for it, cursed and cast down when all he’d wanted was to rid his people of the scourge. Was it right, what the gods had done to Ardyn as punishment for housing daemons within his body? Was it just? Was it fair that that Noctis’ own life was demanded as payment for purging their star of the darkness once and for all?

Noctis didn’t know. All he knew was that he would avenge his kingdom, his father, his fiance, and his friend today, and with vengeance would come rest for himself and The Accursed, along with the return of sunlight that he wouldn’t live to see.

They stepped out of the elevator and into the hall that lead to the throne room.

“Remember how nervous we were in front of King Regis the day we left?” Gladio asked, obviously trying to lighten the solemn mood.

“That was the last time we were in here,” Ignis recalled.

Noctis stopped in front of the doors beyond which lay their destination and stared up at the mural on the wall above them. “Journey begins, journey ends.”

Ignis hummed thoughtfully. “Do the paintings of the prophesy still adorn the walls?”

“Yeah,” Noctis replied. “All here.”

Gladio crossed his arms and looked up at the mural. “We’ll witness firsthand whether their story comes true.”

"I’ll make sure it does.” Noctis sighed heavily. “I almost can’t believe Ardyn was supposed to be in these.”

Gladio chuckled halfheartedly. “Never would have guessed him for royalty.”

“He’s lived a long time,” Noctis though aloud, “in a world he could share with no one.”

Where had that thought come from, Noctis wondered. Then he realized something shocking about himself. He didn’t actually hate Ardyn, though he boiled with anger towards him. Noctis pitied Ardyn. He remembered how he had felt fighting his way through the hoards of daemons and MTs in Zegnautus without his friends, his  _brothers_ , beside him. He thought back to how terrified, angry, hopeless, minuscule, and alone he’d felt. For someone to be forced to live their entire life like that with no clear end in sight...Noctis couldn’t even fathom it.

“I wish Prompto was here,” Noctis sighed. “He always made things feel brighter then they really were.”

“Yeah,” Gladio agreed, “I know what you mean. I miss the kid, too.”

“As do I,” Ignis added.

“Well, no use standing here looking back at the past,” Noctis said, placing his hands on the double doors. “Lets go end this.” He pushed forward and the heavy doors creaked open.

Ardyn sat reclined and cross-legged, smug as ever in the dim light of the throne room. A gash was torn in the back wall, letting the moonlight shine down on the rubble below. But it was not the lighting or the hole in the wall or even Ardyn that Noctis noticed first. Standing to Ardyn’s left was a blond man dressed in white, black, and red, the colors of Nifleheim. He stared down at them, expression blank.

“Careful what you wish for, Noct,” the man said, tone unreadable.

Noctis’ eyes widened and his blood ran cold. He was supposedly dead, but there he was at his sworn enemy’s side.

“PROMPTO?!”

“Ah, the joyful reunion of friends,” Ardyn crooned. “I imagine you have much catching up to do.”

“Ardyn sits the throne,” Ignis asked in a hushed tone to confirm what he suspected, “with Prompto at his side?”

“Not for long,” Noctis answered, then took a step forward and glared daggers at Ardyn. “Off my throne and release Prompto!”

“Release?” Ardyn feigned shock. “I dare say you have quite the wrong idea. You see, Noctis, Prompto his here entirely of his own volition.”

Noctis’ fierce expression did not waiver, but his eyes moved to Prompto. The face of his friend held none of the hope or brightness that Noctis had once taken comfort in and still held no real expression, but behind his eyes…

Behind Prompto’s eyes was anger, burning hot in a way Noctis had never imagined his friend, who had once been the personification of sunlight itself, to be capable of. But then what was sunlight if not the muted glow of a million degree eternal fire?

“It’s true,” Prompto confirmed. “I’m sorry, Noct,” his eyes softened and for a moment she showed a glimmer of who he used to be. “Once you find out what happened, maybe you’ll understand-”

“Oh, we understand plenty,” Gladio interrupted. “Ardyn, you son of a bitch! First you dragged us around and almost made us trust you, then you murdered Lady Lunafreya, mind-fucked us all on the train, but that wasn’t enough, was it? You had to kidnap Prompto and brainwash him against us? You make me sick!”

“I’m not brainwashed,” Prompto said simply. “I just know the truth. And soon you will, too.”

“If you speak of the prophesy and Ardyn’s true name, we’re aware,” Ignis said. “During the past five years or so, Talcott and I have traveled to the tombs and ancient temples. We studied the scripts and runes there. They told of the Healer King who was filled with daemons and cursed with immortality, and of the Chosen King of Light who would bring down the Accursed and banish the scourge...” Ignis paused and when he spoke again his voice was solemn, “...sacrificing his own life in the process.”

“We know Ardyn got shafted,” Gladio added. “We know what we’re here to do. But that doesn’t make Ardyn the good guy here, Prompto! He’s still evil.”

Prompto looked Gladio in the eyes. “Why?”

Gladio was taken aback and almost didn’t understand what Prompto had asked. “What?”

“Why?” Prompto repeated. “You said it yourself: Ardyn got shafted. So why is he evil?”

“Are you even fucking listening to yourself right now!” Gladio shouted. He began storming forward but only advanced a handful of steps before Ignis and Noctis each took an arm. He shrugged them off but did not move further. “He’s the chancellor of Nifleheim for fuck’s sake! He was behind the attack on Insomnia that killed King Regis and all the Glaives; that killed my Father. He dicked us around all over Lucis, he murdered your best friend’s fiance in front of him, damn it, or did you forget how fucking useless Noct was with grief after the rite of Leviathan?”

“I wasn’t useless,” Noctis muttered, but was ignored.

“You and your optimism is the only way any of us kept from loosing our ever-loving minds, remember?” Angry tears streaked down Gladio’s face as years of frustration poured forth. “And what about Ignis, hu?” Gladio pointed to Ignis’ scarred face. “That’s Ardyn’s fault, too! Have you forgotten it was you who helped him re-learn how to button his own damn shirt? Who guided him until he could walk a straight line? WE’RE your friends, not that gods-forsaken sack of daemons on NOCT’S throne!”

The silence that followed was louder than Gladio’s tirade and Prompto looked down at the three men who had once been his brothers, who would always be his brothers despite their different perspectives.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Prompto said almost to quiet to be heard. “Despite everything that’s happened these past ten years, I still love you guys and I always will. We were brothers-in-arms; bonds like that are eternal.” Prompto’s throat tightened and he swallowed hard, determined not to break his resolve. “But I couldn’t turn back in Gralea when so much of me wanted to. I couldn’t leave Ardyn because I know the truth. The WHOLE truth, the part Ignis didn’t find in the temples; the part Bahamut didn’t tell Noct. It was hard, but when Ardyn talked, I listened.  And now I’m going to make you listen.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 2: The Whole Truth

 “Alright,” Noctis said after a long moment of silence. “I’m listening.”

“Your Majesty, you can’t be serious!” Gladio shouted. “He’s a traitor! He turned his back on-”

“Gladio,” Ignis interrupted, voice quiet but firm. “Let him tell his side.”

Prompto smiled slightly. “Thanks, Ignis.” He descended the stairs, bootfalls and the jingling of metal clasps echoing off the broken walls until he stopped in the small landing halfway down. “It’s true that Ardyn was behind the attack on Insomnia. He’s also the reason the four of us were well on our Altissia by the time it happened.”

“He had to make sure I stayed alive to reach this point,” Noctis said.

“Exactly.”

“But my father, Clarus, the Glaive, they didn’t have to die!”

“Actually they did,” Prompto corrected. “At least King Regis did, and Clarus wouldn’t have allowed that if he hadn’t died first.” Prompto did not miss the way Gladios jaw tightened, but he continued. “I lost my family there, too, so It’s not like I’m brushing it off because I don’t know how if feels. The King had to die because the line of Lucis has to be gone. Every last one. No more magic, no more Crystal, no more Ring. Or did you think the repetition of ‘Last King’ in all that lore meant something different?”

Prompto allowed the three to process what he had said before continuing. “The Crystal is home to the spirits of all passed Lucian Kings, but Noctis, you already know that. But what I bet no one, not even your own dad told you was that the Crystal is their ONLY afterlife.”

“What do you mean the only afterlife?”

“I mean they can’t properly move on. Some call it the spirit realm, some call it Heaven. But the knings can’t go there while the Crystal exists. That means not your dad, not Ardyn and not...” Prompto’s voice caught in his throat and he turned away momentarily and swallowed hard and when he turned to face them again, Noctis was sure there were tears in his friend’s (yes he was still a friend) eyes. “...and not you. The Crystal will only cease to exist once the line of Lucis does.”

“So...” Noctis went over everything Prompto had said. “They aren’t just trapped there for ten years like me, they’re...”

“Trapped for thousands of years,” Prompto finished his sentence. “That’s why you never got to marry Luna, or even see her for twelve years after the fall of Tenebrae. There couldn’t be a risk of the line continuing. Either line for that matter.”

“I guess not even Ardyn would have wanted to kill a baby,” Noctis though aloud. “But... either line?”

Prompto’s eyes fell to the ground. “That’s where it gets messy. You see, in order for the scourge to be cleansed, it had to be brought too it’s full power.”

“Wait,” Gladio interrupted, “you mean this never-ending night bullshit?”

Prompto’s angry eyes met Gladios. “Yes, Gladio. I mean this never-ending night bullshit.”

“What the hell does that have to do with Lady Lunafreya?”

Prompto marched down the remaining stairs. Now just a few feet from Gladio, he yelled, “If you would just listen to what someone else has to say instead of throwing your own damn weight around for once in your life maybe I would have told you by now!”

“You wanna march down here and fight me you little-”

“GLADIOLUS!” Noctis shouted. The ground practically shook with the Kings rage. “Let. Him. Speak.”

Ardyn, nearly forgotten on the throne, chuckled. “Spoken like a true King. I dare say I’m impressed.”

“Better late than never. And I believe I told you to get off my throne!”

Ardyn shrugged and stood, descending the stairs to the small landing where Prompto had been.

Noctis walked past Gladio, now face to face with Prompto for the first time in ten years. “Go on, Prompto, tell me what this has to do with Luna.”

Prompto sighed, and then laughed humorlessly. “You know, it should be obvious by now. A lot should have been obvious to you.”

“Prompto, I-”

“NO, Noct! Before I tell you what you think you want to hear, I’m going to tell you what you DON’T want to hear. You are not sitting on that throne,” Prompto punctuated his words by pointing back at the very throne he spoke of, “You are NOT going to...not going to die without hearing this first.”

“Prompto, If this is about the train, I-”

“Oh yeah, that’s ONE thing. You had your head so far up your own ass that you couldn’t tell illusion from reality. It wasn’t obvious to you that I was begging you listen, to open your damn eyes and see what’s happening around you. You couldn’t see Gladio crumbling under the weight of carrying your sorry ass because you couldn’t stand on your own two feet. Couldn’t see how damn hard Ignis was trying to be the best he could for you despite how bad he was hurting; dammit Noct, YOU might as well have been the blind one as much attention you paid to him. Couldn’t see how much your father struggled to give you a happy life back when we were a couple of stupid teenagers blowing off homework to play Kings Knight. He wanted you to live your life they way you wanted because he KNEW how short it would be!”

Tears welled up in Noctis’ eyes, so he closed them to keep them from falling. “Prompto, I’m sorry. I’m SO sorry. But...wait,” He opened his eyes again. “What do you mean my dad knew?”

Prompto scoffed. “STILL can’t see it! Do you remember the first time you brought me here, to the Palace? You showed me the hall just outside this throne room. You told me that room made your dad sad. Do you think that might just be because he knew the paintings he passed by every day reminded him that his son was destined to die? All you ever did back then was bitch about how he never had time for you, how he shut you out, but he KNEW, Noct! He knew his fate and he knew yours but he suffered in silence because he loved you THAT much!”

Prompto’s breath shook, and then, only then, did Noctis notice the hot angry tears streaming down Prompto’s face. So many things he should have noticed, but he’d been so selfish back then. So wrapped up in his own mind he failed to see the plight of those around him. Not anymore. Today that would all change. He would set it right, as much of it as he could.

“Luna knew, too,” Prompto said at barely above a whisper, breaking the moment of heavy silence. “She knew she was the last oracle. She knew the rite of Leviathan would kill her, because that was the price. The covenant couldn’t have been fully forged without her life as payment one way or another and she knew the darkness her death would bring. And she knew how you would end that darkness. See, the scourge couldn’t come to full force with an oracle around. Her power was just strong enough to keep it at bay. That’s why the days started getting shorter and shorter immediately after she died. Ravus was part of the oracle line too, so to keep him from having any decedents, HE had to die too. And Luna knew; she’d known when you met her in Tenebrae, but once again she suffered in silence so YOU could continue on.”

Gladio shook his head. “Why are you even telling us any of this?” he asked, none of his previous anger present.

“To make you see that Ardyn never did anything he didn’t have to do. Everything he ever did was necessary to end the scourge. Way back when he was the Healer King, the hero of his people, he wanted nothing more than to cure the scourge. His goal never changed. Only his methods. They had to change because the Astrals punished him for doing what they told him to freaking DO! And the other royals cast him out, executed his wife and kids so they couldn’t avenge him and chained him in Aangelgard for, get this, two. Thousand. Years! It was only the birth of the chosen king that broke his chains.”

Noctis stepped back and his teary eyes blew wide. “So...you’re saying that...”

Prompto actually smiled, but that smile didn’t belong on Prompto. It was to malicious. He ascended the stairs to Ardyn’s side, and Ardyn smiled back at Prompto, wrapping an arm around his waist. “That’s right, Noct. You freed Ardyn.”

 

 


End file.
